


Storming the Castle

by Kelticmoon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, M/M, Monsters & Mana (Voltron), game typical racism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-16 01:35:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21262955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kelticmoon/pseuds/Kelticmoon
Summary: Shiro, Meklavar, Block, Pike, and Valayun meet Yorak, a demonspawn bardic druid, and Alamar, a half-elf wizard.Chaos ensues.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter 1 is basically the Monsters n Mana game that Kinkade films in my fixit series. Chapter 2 and 3 are a second and third part of the same campaign played on a different day.
> 
> A lot of the plot of this "campaign" is Keith and the other Paladins working through their residual emotions about what happens to Keith in the first half of the fixit series, among other issues.
> 
> Demonspawn=Tiefling in case it isn't obvious.
> 
> Coran ran a game before this with just Lotor, Romelle, and Keith to explain the game and get them the same level as everyone else. That's why their characters already know each other. Romelle is co-DMing this with Coran to learn how to DM (If you reread the chapter this is in, I added her to the scene).
> 
> Picture Lotor roleplaying Alamar. You're welcome.

Five cloaked adventurers enter an inn and tavern as rain pounds the roof. They look around and see the tavern is full of chattering travelers.

A halfling woman with blonde pigtails and teal flowers on her cheeks in an apron approaches them.

“Welcome! Welcome to the 5 Lions tavern and inn! My name is Romesha.”

She gasps when she sees how drenched they are.

“Oh, you are soaked to the bone! Come! Warm yourselves by the fire!”

She ushers them to a table closest to the fireplace.

“We thank you for your hospitality, ma’am,” the tallest one tells her.

Romesha leaves and returns with several tankards of ale.

“Tell me about yourselves! What brings you to the town of Oakenford?”

"We're on a quest," the tall one says.

They remove their cloaks one by one to reveal a human paladin, a dwarven fighter, a human sorcerer, a catfolk thief, and an elven archer.

“My name is Takashi Shirogane, though everyone calls me Shiro,” the human Paladin introduces himself before turning to introduce his companions.  
“This is Meklavar, Block, Pike, and Valayun. We’ve just completed a quest in the Feldakor Mountains to defeat Dakin and his Coranic Dragon.”

“Ah, welcome indeed then. Can I get you anything else besides the ales?”

“We’ll have the tavern standard, please,” Meklavar tells her.

“Five bowls of stew, coming right up!”

“Some rooms as well if there are any available,” Valayun adds.

“Of course, we have plenty of rooms!”

“Well, she’s nice!” Block states.

All conversation dies when a figure enters the tavern and removes their hood revealing a purple demonspawn with markings on his cheeks, red eyes, black hair, two purple and black goat-like horns, and a tail like a lizard. Strapped to his back is a short bow and a lute while on his hips are a short sword, a hip quiver, and a flute tucked into his belt.

Only the innkeeper gives him a warm welcome.

“Have a seat anywhere.”

“Thanks, Corinth,” the bard tells him.

Everyone in the tavern eyes the bard suspiciously and whispers behind their hands as he sits at a small corner table near them.

“I think the temperature just dropped like 30 degrees,” Pike comments as Romesha returns with their bowls and some room keys.

“Here are your stews! Nice and hot!”

“What’s the deal with the bard?” Meklavar asks.

“Oh that’s Yorak. He comes here often to sing in the tavern. Sometimes he'll travel to the neighboring villages to play in their taverns.”

“Why all the hostility?” Valayun asks.

“Oh that is just how everyone is around him because of his race. A shame really. He may look scary, but he is the biggest softy.”

She turns to Yorak.

“The usual?”

He nods.

She leaves and returns with a bowl of stew and a tankard of ale for him.

Some of the patrons get up and leave.

They all dig into their meals and forget about the bard. After a while, the bard gets up and starts to play his lute.

“So, where are you folks heading from here?” Romesha asks them after a while.

“My companions and I are traveling in search of a leviathan demon that killed my master as well as the Jewel of Jitan and the runestone of Lapham,” Shiro tells her.

“A leviathan demon you say?”

They turn and see a half-elf with long white hair and lavender skin in a wizard robe.

“I might be able to aid you in your quest.”

“You can? How?” Block asks.

“There are rumors to the west of such a creature that has taken up residence in a decrepit castle. It is told to have a hoards of stolen treasures guarded by traps and other dreadful things. One such treasure might be this Jewel of Jitan.”

“Awesome!” Meklavar says.

“What of the runestone of Lapham?” Valayun asks.

“The castle itself holds the lair of a mad witch said to have made a deal with the creature in exchange for knowledge and power. If it is not in her possession, she will undoubtedly have knowledge of where the runestone is located.”

“Can you take us there?” Shiro asks him.

“As it happens, I am headed that way myself AND I have a map,” he states.

“Do you have a name?” Pike asks.

“Alamar.”

“We welcome any assistance you can give us Alamar,” Valayun tells him. “We leave at dawn.”

Yorak finishes as they’re all getting up to head upstairs for the night. All six of them drop at least one coin in Yorak’s hat. Shiro and Alamar drops two.

As he heads for the stairs up, Shiro sees Yorak stand and gather his coins.

“Will you be staying in a room tonight, Yori?” Romesha asks him.

“I don’t think that’d be wise, Romi. I don’t want to scare away any more of your paying customers. I’ll be fine in the stable.”

“At least stay at my place,” Romesha insists. “I’ll be walking home soon anyway. You can walk me home.”

Yorak laughs.

“Romi, you and I both know you don’t need me to keep you safe from thugs.”

“Oh no, it’s not for me. It’s for them.”

Yorak laughs but agrees.

~

The following morning as the group heads out of town, they hear a commotion and investigate.

They see the bard from the night standing across the town square in front of a house with an angry mob in front of him with pitchforks.

They hear a whistling sound before something hard hits the bard’s forehead.

He grunts in pain and clutches the spot as he drops to his knees.

“Hey!”

The group runs to his defense but they know it’ll take a while for them to get there.

Romesha runs out from the house carrying a broom and stands protectively between the angry mob and Yorak.

“Leave him alone!”

“This doesn’t concern you, Halfling!”

When the group stops near them, they can see the blood dripping down Yorak’s face as he looks up at the halfling’s back. On the ground in front of him is the stone that was thrown at him.  
There’s another whistling sound but Romesha catches the rock with her freehand before it hits the bard.

“I will not warn you again,” Romesha tells them. “Go about your business and leave him alone.”

“Or what?”

One of the townsfolk tries to shove Romesha out of the way. She grabs them by the wrist and throws them backward with a single hit to the chest before taking up the fighting stance of a monk, holding the broom like a quarterstaff.

“If you’re willing to defend this demon, you’ll get the same!” someone in the crowd yells.

“The only demon I see here is you!”

There are a lot more whistling sounds. The monk used the broom to block some, but she couldn't stop all of them.

_“Protection!”_

Block blocks half of the remaining rocks with his protection spell while Shiro blocks the other half with his shield.

“That’s enough!” Shiro tells them firmly.

“A paladin!”

“Thank the gods! He’ll save us from this evil demon!”

Shiro and his companions all stand next to Romesha as they stare down the angry mob.

“The next person who throws anything at him will feel the wrath of justice!”

The crowd gasps.

“You’re siding with the evil creature!”

“The demon must have them all enthralled!”

“Even if that were true, do you really think you can fight two kinds of warriors, a rogue, an archer, two magic users, and apparently a monk?”

The crowd immediately dissipates.

“Didn’t think so.”

They turn toward Yorak as Romesha immediately drops to her knees.

“Are you ok?”

Yorak looks at her reassuringly as he clutches his head where the rock hit him.

“Nothing I haven’t dealt with before…”

“Allow me.”

Alamar removes Yorak’s hand and covers the injury with his hand.

_“Healing.”_

There’s a gentle lavender glow under Alamar’s hand. When he removes it and the glow disappears, the injury is gone as though it had never happened.

“Thanks, Alamar.”

Romesha helps Yorak to his feet.

“What was that all about?” Pike asks.

“There was a mine collapse recently that killed thousands of miners. Also, several villagers have mysteriously gone missing. Naturally, they all believe I’m responsible.”

“How could they possibly believe you would have anything to do with such things?” Valayun asks.

Yorak shrugs.

“Fear and grief make people do many things that don’t make any sense. They need something tangible they can blame so why not blame the demonspawn.”

Meklavar turns to Romesha.

“How does a **monk** end up serving in a tavern?”

“I must eat somehow.”

“It would appear the two of you are close,” Valayun observes.

Romesha hugs Yorak to prove her observation right.

“We met at the monastery I trained at. I was training, he was a hermit in the woods who stayed with us during the winter months.”

"How do you know him, Alamar?"

"I ventured with the both of them for a time."

“Why did they think you had enthralled us?” Block asks Yorak.

“My mom is a demonspawn whose ancestor screwed a succubus to gain political power,” Yorak explains. “I do genuinely have most succubus abilities, including the ability to enthrall, I just prefer not to use them most of the time.”

Yorak looks back at Romesha.

“I think it might be time for me to head somewhere else for a little while.”

Romesha frowns.

“I fear you are right.”

“Hey, I’ll write.”

“That is not the problem.”

Alamar steps forward.

“If it helps, perhaps he can come with us."

“Where are you headed?” Yorak asks.

“A decrepit castle to the west,” Alamar tells him. "You know that area like the back of your hand. Perhaps you can guide us.”

“I thought you had a map,” Pike states.

“Does a map tell you about the dragon that’s taken roost near the castle or the sinking sand pit that’s along the route?” Yorak asks with a raised eyebrow.”

“Erm… no.”

“He can aid us in our quest and in exchange, we can ensure he is not assassinated along the way.”

Yorak looks at the others.

“If that’s alright with you all.”

“More the merrier!” Shiro tells him.

~

The party of seven sets out to the edge of town and into the forest. Alamar is on horseback, the rest are on foot.

When they stop for lunch, Pike grumbles.

“Man, how come Alamar has a horse?”

“It is included in my background,” Alamar explains.

“Valayun, can’t you summon something to fly us there?”

“I recommend staying below the treeline,” Yorak tells him. “There’s a flock of griffins that hunts in this part of the forest. When you get closer to the castle, it’s the dragon that’s hunting.”

“Besides, I am out of summoning arrows,” Valayun says.

Yorak snaps his fingers.

“I have just the thing.”

As they’re preparing to head out again, Yorak pulls out a flute and plays a tune. Soon four dire wolves appear from the forest around them; one black, one white, and two grey; one of which was clearly a runt.

“This is Eclipse, and her brothers, Tundra and Storm, and sister, Scout” he introduces them respectively while petting Eclipse. “They’re littermates.”

“Whoa! Hold on! How can you summon animals?!” Pike asks.

“I’m a druid too.”

“You can do that?!”

“Focus, Pike!” Meklavar says.

Shiro turns to Yorak.

“I’m guessing they’re friends of yours?”

Yorak nods.

"I kinda raised them after their mother died."

Yorak climbs onto Eclipse’s back while she’s still standing.

“Eclipse and Tundra can fit two people, Storm and Scout can only fit a single person each.”

Tundra lays down in front of Valayun so she can climb on his back while Storm and Scout do the same for Block and Meklavar.

“Erm… He won’t have an issue with me being a catfolk, right?” Pike asks.

“Wouldn’t have suggested it if I thought they would.”

“You can ride with me,” Valayun suggests.

Pike grins before getting himself settled on Tundra’s back, who promptly rises to his feet along with Storm and Scout.

“Looks like you’re riding with me.”

Yorak offers the paladin his hand.

Shiro smiles as he takes it, letting Yorak pull him up behind him as Alamar mounts his horse.

“Hold onto the scruff of your direwolves like this.”

Yorak demonstrates. Valayun, Block, and Meklavar follow suit and Pike holds on to Valayun.

Yorak glances over his shoulder at Shiro.

“Hold on tight, ok?”

Shiro puts his arms around Yorak’s waist and the demonspawn blushes a darker shade of purple.

They take off through the forest, Alamar’s horse easily keeping up with the dire wolves.

With Yorak’s guidance, they make it to the castle without trouble, stopping once to rest for the night.


	2. Chapter 2

As the seven heroes enter the castle, they run into a problem.

“Er… Valayun, you wouldn’t happen to have a glowing arrow by chance?” Block asks.

“Unfortunately, no. I gave you my last one last night when you said you wished to relieve yourself.”

“To be fair, all of us, save for the two humans, have the ability to see in the dark.”

Alamar turns to Block before asking.

“Do you know a spell to cast light?”

“Er… I didn’t learn one…”

“Oh! I have one!”

Yorak plays his lute and a couple of floating orbs of red light circle around the party.

“Nicely done, Yorak!” Shiro tells him.

The demonspawn blushes again.

“Good thing you decided to stay and help us,” Meklavar states.

Yorak shrugs.

“Not like I had anything else to do. Besides, if what you said about the leviathan demon and witch are true, it’s possible they could be linked to the missing villagers.”

They trek through the castle, searching room to room. They walk down a corridor and try to open a door that turns out to be locked.

When Shiro shoulders the door open after Pike fails to pick the lock, he sees a room full of undead and immediately closes the door again.

“Nope! Not going that way!”

They make their way through the castle, fighting all kinds of terrible creatures until they finally come to a huge treasure chamber guarded by a massive demon.

The moment they enter the room, the demon roars and roasts everyone but Yorak (who is immune to fire) and Shiro (who has a fire proof shield). Block and Alamar take the worse of the fire damage.

Shiro and Meklavar run to fight the demon, while Valayun, Block, and Alamar attack it from a distance with Yorak and Pike providing aid where ever needed.

The demon throws Shiro back and is fighting hand to hand with Meklavar.

It knocks Meklavar’s ax out of her hand and it lands 30 ft away. She races the demon for it. Meklavar manages to grab it right before the demon. With a glorious jump swing she slices the demon mid-flight, killing it.

Block screams and just barely dodges out of the way before the demon crashes through the wall he had been standing against moments before.

The demon disappears, dropping large necklace with a green jewel shaped like a leaf.

“The Jewel of Jitan!”

Meklavar immediately grabs it and holds it close to her heart.

“I’m so happy I got it back!”

She promptly puts the necklace on and a green force field flickers around her before disappearing.

“Sweet! It adds a protection charm against nature magic.”

They continue through the castle until they come to a bridge over a river of lava. Across the river of lava is a ghoul with **_amazing_ **green armor and six shambling corpses.

“Ugh! I hate undead…” Block whines.

“They do not appear to have seen us, so I suggest we come up with a plan,” Alamar points out.

“Er… I have a thorn whip…” Yorak states. “If the two fighter types can keep most of them busy, I can use it to pull some of them into the lava.”

Meklavar giggles.

“I like that idea.”

“Alamar, Block, and I shall provide support where ever needed,” Valayun tells them.

“What should I do?” Pike asks.

“Just stand there looking pretty,” Yorak tells him with a smirk, earning him a middle finger.

The ghoul notices them then and points them out to the rest of the undead.

“They’ve spotted us!” Block states.

Yorak, Block, Valayun, and Alamar run to either side of the bridge within attack range. Yorak plays his lute to inspire Shiro (making the paladin blush) while Alamar casts mage armor on himself. Valayun rains arrows down on the undead and Block casts lightning bolt. Meklavar and Shiro move to engage the undead on the bridge with Pike assisting. Yorak succeeds in grabbing one of the shambling corpses with his thorn whip before promptly pulling it into the lava, leaving only 5. Alamar casts ice blast at the ghoul and Valayun and Block repeat their previous attacks.

Soon, they’re down to only the ghoul, who is looking pretty ragged.

With Shiro kneeling on the ground, Meklavar uses Shiro’s paladin armor to leap into the air before slicing the ghoul’s head off.

“Nice move!”

The ghoul drops a helmet and a set of green armor.

“You’re the only one here who can use the armor Meklavar so you might as well take it,” Shiro tells her.

“Don’t mind if I do.”

Meklavar immediately dons the armor.

“Sweet! The helmet somehow plays rock music and the armor adds to my elemental defense.”

They continue walking until they reach some double doors where they enter a long chamber with a sarcophagus in the dead center of the room.

“Wonder what’s in the sarcophagus,” Pike says.

“Don’t forget to check for traps,” Meklavar reminds him.

When Pike inspects the sarcophagus, he accidentally steps on a pressure plate, opening the sarcophagus.

“Seriously, Pike?!”

“I’m a pickpocket, not a cat burglar!”

“Was that a pun?!” Block asks.

“Guys! Focus!” Shiro says with a smile.

A lich rises out of the sarcophagus wearing a yellow robe. He then calls an army of skeletons and sends them to attack the group.

“Don’t let it touch you! It can freeze you with a single touch!” Block yells. “It’s resistant against cold, lightning, and necrotic damage and immune to poison, bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons!”

“Then how do we defeat it if we can’t physically hit it?” Meklavar asks.

“I have no such worries!” declares Shiro. “My sword and shield are imbued with magic!”

“As are my arrows,” Valayun adds.

“My weapons aren’t magic though and neither are Yorak’s!” Meklavar says.

“Hold out your ax and arrow quiver,” Shiro tells them.

They do as they’re told and Shiro casts elemental weapons on the weapons.

“There! Now you can hurt it.”

“Sweet!”

Through the combined efforts of the group, they easily take down the lich, who drops good robes for a sorcerer.

Block dons the yellow robe and an armor of rock forms around him momentarily before disappearing.

“Awesome! Block’s robes give him permanent rock armor,” Meklavar explains.

They continue their way to a set of doors at the end of the room and head down a flight of never ending stairs.

“These are the stairs that never end… yes, they go on and on, my friend…” Pike sings.

“Some people started walking it, not knowing what it was...” Meklavar continues.

“And they’ll continue walking it forever, just because…” Block adds.

Yorak shrugs and plays his flute along with the tune as they continue to sing.

Shiro laughs and claps along.

Alamar turns to Valayun.

“I believe I am missing something.”

“I think it is a joke known primarily to humans.”

They finally get to the bottom of the stairs, Pike suddenly stops them in front of some double doors.

“My feline senses are tingling.”

“Agreed, there is something powerful ahead through these doors,” Valayun agrees.

They push the doors open to reveal a massive witch’s workshop and lair. Scattered all over the floor are the bones of a number of treasure seekers. One of them is wearing pink leather ranger armor, another is wearing a blue stealth rogue armor.

“This must belong to the witch you spoke of,” Valayun states.

As they’re walking through the lab, they notice something odd.

“None of these bodies have a mark on them,” Block adds.

Suddenly there’s an ungodly wailing sound that makes everyone but Shiro a little dizzy. Shiro however immediately drop to the ground where he stands.

They look up to see a banshee floating into view.

The banshee holds up a stone with a pink rune on it and a bolt of pink light shoots out of it into the skeletons with the pink and blue armor. The two skeletons then come to life. The stealth skeleton disappears into a puff of smoke while the other one starts firing arrows at them. They take cover behind some bookshelves.

“Block and I shall deal with the banshee,” Alamar states. “The rest of you fight the archer.”

“Pike, keep an eye open for that rogue!” Meklavar tells him.

They manage to take the ranger down but the stealth rogue has yet to show itself.

Pike sees movement immediately behind Valayun.

“Oh no ya don’t!”

Pike shoves Valayun away catches the stealth skeleton by the wrist.

That’s the exact moment, they finally bring down the banshee, causing the skeleton to just collapse to the ground.

“Nice move, Pike!”

They all run to Shiro’s body.

“Did he just die again?!” Meklavar asks in exasperation.

Block checks him.

“Yup. Banshee wail. Instant death.”

Yorak’s eyes glow red.

“No he didn’t!”

He kneels down and touches Shiro’s chest over his heart.

“_Resuscitation_!”

Yorak’s voice echoes right before a burst of red light flairs where Yorak’s hand is. Shiro takes a sudden gasp for air before sitting up.

Pike gapes at Yorak.

“How in the heck were you able to revive Shiro?! Neither of your classes have the ability to do that!”

“I also have the abilities of a succubus, remember?” Yorak tells him. “One of them is the Succubi ability to resuscitate any human or fae.”

As Shiro’s picking himself off the ground, Yorak holds his hand out to him.

“You alright there, Ser Paladin?”

Shiro blushes at the use of his title.

“Fine, thank you.”

He accepts the help to his feet.

Valayun approaches the banshee and investigates the rune she dropped.

“It is the Runestone of Lapham!” she exclaims.

She picks it up.

“I am now able to summon a lion to aid me in battle!”

“Hey, these skeletons dropped some awesome loot, too," Pike points out.

Valayun dons the pink armor while Pike dons the blue.

“Valayun’s new armor protects from mind domination while Pike’s gives him stealth and speed both on land and in water. It also grants you the ability to see someone who is stealthy,” Alamar informs them.

“Nice!”

~

They continue fighting their way through the catacombs beneath the castle; Yorak and Shiro flirting and blushing back and forth the entire time.

Finally they come to a huge ritual chamber. At the far end of the ritual chamber is a huge pair of metal double doors.

There standing in the middle is a single warlock with a large barbarian (both with hoods over their heads preventing anyone from seeing their races) standing on one side and another hooded figure in a lavender robe on.

Before them in the ritual circle is a tied up living human woman.

“One of the missing villagers!” Yorak breathes.

“Stop right there, Witch!” Alamar yells.

She stops and looks toward the door at the party of adventurers.

“So much for the element of surprise…” Meklavar comments.

“Ah! My son!”

The warlock lowers her hood to reveal an elven woman with long white hair like Alamar and dark purple skin.

“You return!”

“I am not your son, Witch!” Alamar declares. “My mother ceased to exist the moment she sold her soul to a demon! I've come to defeat you!”

The Witch gives Alamar a disgusted look.

“You ungrateful boy! After all I have done for you…”

“You have done, NOTHING for me, you old hag!”

The hooded barbarian turns suddenly to face Alamar as a booming voice is heard.

“YOU WILL NOT SPEAK TO YOUR MOTHER THAT WAY!”

He removes his hood revealing a pale human man.

“You remember your father, don’t you boy?” the Witch asks.

Yorak turns to Pike.

“Pike, give me your invisibility cloak. While Alamar has them distracted, you and I are going to slip past them and free the villager.”

“On it.”

They both disappear.

“I have no father, just a wretch of a human who allowed his wife to sell her soul to a demon!”

“You insolent child!”

Just then, the villager trips over a piece of rubble as they’re trying to move back to the door.

The Witch and Barbarian turn and see the villager, realizing their human sacrifice is gone.

“NO! The ritual was not yet completed!”

The witch glares at Alamar.

“You did this!”

She fires three mage missiles at the heroes who all dodge the attack.

Alamar lobs a fireball at her.

Alamar gets into a magic battle with the Witch while the others engage the lackey and Barbarian.

Keith immediately removes the invisibility cloak and turns to the villager.

“Stay behind me!”

Yorak steps in front of her and casts Sleep on the Barbarian. Then he pulls out his short bow and starts firing arrows at the lackey. The Barbarian manages to wake himself up right as the lackey goes down.

Spells and arrows fly while Shiro, Meklavar, and Pike weave around them.

It’s a difficult fight, but eventually they both go down.

On their dying breaths, they speak.

“How dare you… We are your parents…”

“We created you…”

Alamar looks at them with disgust.

“You are no parents of mine!”

Then the Witch and Barbarian were no more.

Alamar walks over to where the lackey is and dons the wizard robe it dropped. A seal appears beneath him and then vanishes.

“A robe of teleportation!” Block exclaims excitedly.

“That means we won’t have to climb the endless staircase of doom to get out of here!” Meklavar adds.

Yorak immediately turns to the rescued villager.

“Are you ok?”

“I’m alive thanks to you lot.”

“Where are the other villagers that disappeared?”

“Many of them are dead, but the ones that are left were in the dungeons.”

“Can you take us to them?” Valayun asks.

She nods.

Alamar pulls a key out of the pocket of his robes and uses it on the metal doors. They open the door and head down the stairs.

As they descend the small staircase, the villager looks at Yorak.

“You’re the demonspawn that frequents the tavern, right?”

“Did my demon horns give me away?” Yorak asks goodnaturedly.

“You’ve heard what the other villagers say about you then?”

“I have.”

“Yet you still came to save us?”

“It’s the right thing to do.”

She hesitates a moment.

“My name is Velena.”

“Yorak.”

They reach the bottom of the stairs to find several cells with about 20 villagers in them total.

Men. Women. Children. Old people. All held like pigs waiting for the slaughter.

“Please don’t hurt us!”

“Be calm,” Alamar soothes.

“We’ve come to rescue you,” Yorak assures them.

“Oh thank the gods!”

Alamar opens the cells.

“Is this all of you?” Meklavar asks once they’ve all been gathered.

“There was a group of us held in the furthest cell.”

“Gather in a group in front of Alamar, please,” Yorak tells them. “He’ll teleport you to the edge of the village.”

They look at Yorak warily.

“I assure you, he speaks the truth,” Velena tells them. “They will not harm us.”

“Unless you’d rather stay down here,” Pike comments.

They do as they’re told.

In a flash, Alamar teleports them.


	3. Chapter 3

“Let’s go free the last of the villagers.”

They trek to the furthest cell in the prison to find a solid metal door with a barred window at the top next to a passage leading to another solid door. What greets them when Alamar unlocks it is a chilling sight.

They see all of the villagers are dead, their mangled bodies strewn all over the floor. All of them.

Except for a single little blond haired girl with pigtails.

She's sitting in the back of the cell crying by the body of a woman.

She looks up and shrinks away from them in fright.

“Who are you?!”

“Be calm, child. None of us will harm you,” Valayun sooths.

“What happened here?” Block asks.

She sobs as she speaks.

“There was a horrible creature with claws… It came out of the shadows... and then disappeared when it heard you coming.”

Shiro gasps.

“The leviathan demon!”

Yorak investigates the bodies and frowns.

“You said the creature left as soon as it heard us coming?”

She nods.

“Let us make haste!” Alamar states.

“We should see where the other door leads,” Block suggests.

“Hopefully it’ll have space for us to teleport her home,” Meklavar states.

As they’re leaving the cell, Pike looks down at the girl.

“What’s your name?”

“Romeis.”

“How did you survive?” Meklavar asks.

“My mother covered me with her body. I stayed there until it left.”

“Clever girl,” Shiro tells her.

Yorak gives the girl a quick look over and frowns even more.

They go through the door and enter a chamber with an enormous statue in the far end of the room with a large cistern at the base of it. There is a horde of treasure and various items at the far end of the room. Among them is a set of black paladin armor and red bard clothes. The only ways out is the door they came in through and an underground river that flows into the cistern.

“Looks like another dead end,” Meklavar states as they all walk into the center of the room, Keith trailing behind them as he pulls out his short bow.

“At least there’s a ton of loot,” Pike points out as he and Meklavar head closer to the loot pile.

Before anyone can move further, Yorak pulls an arrow from his hip quiver and aims it straight at the little girl.

“Everyone, back away from the girl!”

The others all look at him in shock.

“Whoa, Yorak!”

“Wait, what?!”

“Now hang on there!”

“Have you gone mad?!”

“She is a mere child!”

“She’s no child! She’s not even human!”

He looks at her with his arrow still trained at her head.

“Isn’t that right, **_Leviathan demon?!_**”

The others all gasp.

“Explain,” Valayun tells him.

“Her stories don’t add up,” Yorak explains. “First, she told us the creature disappeared when it heard us coming.”

“So?” Pike asks.

“Those bodies in that cell were cold. They’ve been dead for well over a day. Then she told us she survived because her mother protected her with her body and she hid under it so she could pretend she was dead. There was dried blood all over that cell. Yet she and her clothes don’t have a drop of blood on them.”

They all look at her dress and sure enough he’s right.

“Not to mention, my demonic heritage gives me the ability to sense demons, even if they’re disguised and I was sensing her from down the hall. Didn’t say anything when I saw her because I thought maybe she was a demonspawn who could better pass.”

The girl’s eyes glow teal as a demonic laugh echoes the room.

_“Very clever!”_

Block, Shiro, Alamar, and Valayun all jump away from her in shock.

“THAT IS NOT NORMAL!!” Block yells.

The little girl morphs into a leviathan demon with yellow pigtails.

Keith immediately looses the arrow at the demon, who catches it in midair.

“Did you honestly expect that to work?” it taunts him.

“Actually I was hoping you would catch it,” Yorak tells it.

Suddenly, the demon’s hand starts to smoke like its burning.

It hisses in pain as she drops the arrow.

“What is this?!”

“Holy water,” Yorak says smugly. “My human heritage makes me immune. You on the other hand…”

It glares at him.

“You know what you aren’t immune to?”

Before anyone can think, the arrow lifts off the ground, turns around, and lodges itself in Yorak’s upper left subscapularis.

“Augh!”

Yorak stumbles backward from the hit, clutching the arrow as he’s brought to his knee.

“Yorak!”

The rest of the party attacks the leviathan demon with Shiro leading the charge. It summons three revenants to fight for it.

The fight is going poorly.

Even with the upgraded armor, Meklavar, Pike, and Valayun are down (not dead, just lying on the ground watching the fight), Block is badly injured and trying to heal himself. Only Alamar and Shiro are still standing and Alamar is looking a little rough.

Yorak grits his teeth in frustration as he watches the fight. With his injured shoulder, he can’t use his bow or his instruments.

He looks at one of the revenants and gets an idea.

Suddenly the revenant stops mid swing to kill Alamar and its eyes start glowing red. It immediately turns and attacks the other revenants.

“What just happened?” Block asks.

“I just happened,” Yorak says where he’s standing clutching his injury; his eyes glowing red.

“His demonic heritage grants him the ability to manipulate the undead!” Alamar explains.

Yorak uses the revenant to make short work of the other revenants before helping Shiro fight the leviathan demon. Soon the demon is weak enough that Shiro can defeat it with one final Holy Smite.

Shiro stands over it as it lay on the ground.

“Justice has finally been served!”

It looks at Shiro.

“You may have defeated me, but that doesn’t mean you’ve won.”

Eyes still glowing red, Yorak cries out in pain as a spear drives itself through his back.

“NO!!”

Yorak cries out again as the spear lifts him up off the ground, breaking his control of the revenant.

Shiro turns back to the dying demon with anguish in his eyes before driving his blade through the demon; killing it.

The revenant disappears.

“Never again will you take another life!!”

Shiro immediately turns and runs to Yorak’s side as the spear disappears and demonspawn collapses. Shiro rolls Yorak onto his back as a puddle of blood quickly spreads beneath him.

“Yorak! Yorak, hold on!”

Shiro’s breathing rapidly as he inspects Yorak’s injury.

“B..Block!”

Shiro looks up at the sorcerer.

“You can heal him, right?!”

“I used up my last healing spell and we’re all out of health potions,” Block tells him sadly.

“There has to be something!”

“I believe I have something that should buy us time, but not much.”

Alamar places his hand over Yorak and soon a blue rune appears on his chest where the injury is.

“Is that a lifeward?” Block asks.

“It will prevent him from dying within the next 10 doboshes, but after that…”

“Let’s get him back to the village,” Block suggests.

“Agreed. Perhaps there will be an apothecary or even a healer,” Valayun adds.

“Alamar, can you send them back the same way you did the villagers?” Pike asks.

“I can, why?”

“There’s some rare items in that treasure pile over there,” Meklavar tells them. “One of them may have something we can use to save him.”

“Shiro, Block, and Valayun can take Yorak back to the village while Meklavar, Alamar, and I will stay and grab the rare items,” Pike says.

With a plan in mind, Shiro holds Yorak close while Valayun and Block move closer. Alamar casts Teleportation and they disappear in a flash and reappear at the edge of the village.

“It’s the heroes who saved us!” yells one of the rescued villagers.

Romesha spots them and runs up to them.

“What happened?!”

“The leviathan demon! It tried to kill him when he dared to oppose it,” Valayun tells her.

“If we don’t find a healer or an apothecary soon, he’s gonna die,” Block adds.

Romesha gives them a look of anguish.

“There is no apothecary in a small village like this and the healer is visiting our neighboring village.”

“There is a physician though.”

They turn and see Corinth.

“Can you go get him, please?”

“Right away!”

Corinth disappears and then reappears with the physician.

The first reaction they get from the man is a turned up nose.

“Me? Help a demonspawn? Surely you jest!”

“Fucking seriously, man!” Block exclaims.

“If you are this town’s only hope for medical attention, they are quiznaking doomed!” Allura adds.

“Let him return to the 9 Hells where he belongs!”

About half the crowd cheers in agreement.

They hear a woman’s voice through the crowd.

“Father, what’s all the commotion?”

The physician turns to her.

“Go back to the shop, my sweet. It’s not safe out here. I’ll not lose you to this demon again.”

The woman steps into view.

It’s Velena.

She smiles when she sees Yorak, Valayun, Block, and Shiro.

“Father, these are the adventurers I spoke of! The ones who saved me.”

He stares at her in shock.

“But… the demonspawn kidnapped you and the other villagers!”

The crowd agrees with the physician.

She stares him down fiercely.

“He did no such thing! It was the Witch in the Castle who kidnapped me and the other villagers with the help of a leviathan demon. Yorak personally saved me before the Witch could sacrifice me in her insane ritual. He is not the monster here! Even after all the hell you lot have put him through, he still saved us!”

She gasps when she sees Yorak and runs to him.

“Oh no, what happened to him?!”

Shiro looks up at her.

“The leviathan demon tried to kill him. He has a lifeward on him but we have less than 10 minutes before it fades.”

The physician sighs.

“Let me look at him then.”

“Now, you’re willing to help us?” Block asks him.

“I’m not so stubborn that I cannot admit when I am wrong.”

He kneels beside Yorak and examines his injury.

He pulls away from Yorak with a sigh.

“I’ll not lie to you, it is truly beyond my capabilities. I genuinely wish that weren’t the case, but the spear went through one of his lungs. Only a healer could treat such an injury.”

Shiro remembers something.

“Yorak, you have most of the same abilities as a succubus, right? Don’t succubi have the ability to heal themselves?”

“I haven’t mastered it yet…”

“Could you please try?”

“I’d have to drain the life force of either a living or undead being...” he tells Shiro.

Shiro takes Yorak’s hand and places it against his own cheek.

“Take from me then.”

“Or me,” Romesha tells him.

“No.” Yorak says firmly.

“It’s ok. Really.”

“We don’t mind.”

“I said, no.”

“If you’re reluctant to drain a friend, take mine,” the physician tells him. “I owe you my daughter’s life and its partially my fault so much of the lifeward's time was wasted.”

“I’d rather die… than drain a living person…”

A whisper goes through the crowd around them as a look of guilt crosses their faces. One of them steps forward.

“If you’re fearing retribution from us... please don’t... This whole village owes you everything for the way we treated you.”

Yorak still refuses.

“I didn’t do this... for a reward... I did it... because it was the right thing to do.”

Tears roll down Shiro’s face.

“Yorak, please…”

Yorak closes his eyes as the lifeward wears off. A second later, he stops breathing all together.

There’s a sudden flash of light and Pike, Meklavar, and Alamar appear with a disoriented horse carrying bags of loot.

“Shiro, we know how to save Yorak!” Meklavar exclaims.

“How?” Shiro asks.

“The black paladin armor we found among the leviathan’s loot is the Armor of Esus, goddess of life and healing,” Alamar explains. “It not only grants the wearer the ability to heal, but also grants the wearer an ability called "The Kiss of Life". It can bring anyone back to life with a single kiss.”

“If you put it on, you should be able to save him,” Pike concludes.

Shiro immediately changes into the new armor.

He pulls Yorak into his arms and places one of his hands over the demonspawn’s wound. Soon it starts to glow a dark purple color. As the injury heals, Shiro leans down over the bard.

“Come back to me, Yorak…”

He tenderly caresses Yorak's lips with his own.

Yorak's eyes blink open at the same time as Shiro's as he pulls away.

“Shiro?”

The paladin smiles and pulls Yorak into a hug. As Shiro helps him to his feet, the town cheers; startling Yorak a little.

~

Later that night, they sit at a table in the tavern after sorting through the loot from the leviathan’s lair.

“That new set of bard clothes looks great on you, Yorak.”

Yorak blushes.

“Thanks Shiro.”

“These new weapons are awesome, too!” Meklavar says. “I got a new greatax, Valayun and Yorak got new bows, Pike got new daggers, Block and Alamar got new staves, Shiro got a new sword and shield, and Yorak got a new lute.”

As the others get up to return to their rooms, Romesha approaches Yorak again.

"Will you be staying in a room tonight, Yori?"

Yorak catches Shiro's eye as he heads up the stairs.

"I think I just might..."


End file.
